


The Grudge Plothole Fixit Fic

by Kelticmoon



Series: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 8 plothole fixit fics [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non season 8 compliant, The grudge (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 22:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17068316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelticmoon/pseuds/Kelticmoon
Summary: This is plothole fixit fic number two.  This one takes place during The Grudge and the scene is where Zethrid is holding Keith on the cliff and Axca is trying to talk her down with Shiro next to her.





	The Grudge Plothole Fixit Fic

“I’m too far gone!” Zethrid yells in anguish at Acxa. “Ezor will never take me back!”

She tightens the chokehold around Keith’s neck with a single flex of her mighty arm. Shiro’s breath catches in his chest as he glares at Zethrid, his finger twitching on his trigger in frustration and anger when he hears Keith’s strangled cry of pain as he struggles in vain to loosen her hold on his neck.

“Wait! Please!” Acxa pleads. “Don’t let the rage control you!”

“All I have left…”

Zethrid takes a step back toward the edge of the cliff over the molten lava. Shiro sees a look of fear flash in Keith’s eyes as Zethrid adjusts her hand to grip him and he swears he feels his heart stop in his chest and lurches forward when he realizes what she’s about to do.

“Is revenge!”

In one swift motion, Zethrid points her gun at Shiro and hurls Keith off the cliff behind them. Keith yells as he’s thrown clear off the cliff.

“NO!!!” Shiro cries. Shiro’s jetpack kicks into life as he runs for the cliff, completely ignoring the gun pointed at him. Shiro vaguely registers a shot ringing out before leaping off the cliff after Keith. Nothing else mattered but the man in front of him plummeting toward the molten lava.

Keith’s eyes meet Shiro’s as they fall and Shiro’s vision blurs as a memory plays in the back of his mind.

~

_“Hey Keith…” Shiro begins._

_“Yeah?” Keith says as he stops at the door to Shiro’s room in the Castle of Lions and looks back at him._

_“How many times are you going to have to save me before this is over?” Shiro asks him lightheartedly._

_Keith smiles back at him._

_“As many times as it takes…”_

~

Fierce determination spikes through Shiro then. He lets out a determined grunt and gives his jetpack an extra boost of speed to catch up to Keith.

“Gotcha!!” Shiro says as he wraps his arms tightly around Keith before pulling up. They both feel the heat of the lava as Shiro pulls up at the last possible minute and they spiral just over the lava’s surface for a few tics before Shiro pulls up again and away from the lava.

They shoot up and out of the volcanic crater and Shiro lands with Keith on a nearby ledge overlooking the cliff. Keith immediately drops to his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air as the carbon and CO2 levels finally get to him.

“Hang on, Keith… I’ve got you,” Shiro tells him as he kneels down beside him and produces a small oxygen mask connected to his flight suit, helping Keith hold it over his mouth and nose with his Altean hand while his left hand rests on Keith’s back.

Keith holds the mask to his face with both hands and immediately takes in a deep breath, filling his oxygen deprived lungs with much needed air.

“Take your time, Keith,” Shiro assures him calmly, looping the mask’s ear straps over Keith’s ears after Keith takes a few more breaths. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Shiro looks over his shoulder at the cliff and can see Acxa hauling Zethrid up and over the cliff where Zethrid was dangling. He can see the gunshot wound in Zethrid’s shoulder. Given the location of the shot and where Zethrid fell off the cliff, Shiro figures Veronica must have sniped Zethrid before she could even pull the trigger. That must have been the shot he heard.

“Captain! Is the Voltron Leader alright?” he hears James ask over the comm from the MFE flying above them.

“He’ll live,” Shiro confirms. “Just giving him a moment before I take him back to the Atlas.”

“Need a lift, sir?” James asks.

“We’re good, thanks,” Shiro answers.

Shiro feels a gentle touch on his Altean hand that draws his attention back to the man beside him.

“Thank you…” Keith breathes with a smile.

“Can’t let you have all the dashing, heroic moments, now can I?” Shiro tells him halfheartedly with a crooked smile before he adjusts his hold on Keith and slips an arm under Keith’s knees.  Shiro picks him up. “Let’s get you to the Atlas.”

Shiro flies Keith back and he’s immediately taken to med bay for treatment. Because of how long it took them to save him and get him back, most of the other Paladins had been treated and released on bedrest.

The two sit in comfortable silence in medbay while Keith undergoes oxygen treatment. As soon as they’re alone, Shiro sits on Keith’s bed in med bay and pulls him into an embrace, being mindful of the oxygen mask.

“I’m so glad you’re OK…” Shiro tells him, his voice low and shaky.

“What happened?” Keith asks him. “From your end, I mean.”

“We got a message from you that you were delayed while en route,” Shiro explains. “I had a nagging feeling that I couldn’t place at the time so I ignored it… I realized what it was when Axca pointed out something sounded off with your voice. That’s when we noticed our signal was being hijacked. They fixed it and…” Shiro’s voice starts to break. “When we finally got your calls for back-up…” Shiro takes a shaky breath to calm himself. “We got here as fast as we could. We took out their command ship, freed the Lions, and saved the others… but there was no sign of you… when their Olkarian told us their captain was hunting you… When I saw her use you for a fucking shield…” Tears roll down Shiro’s face as he buries it into Keith’s shoulder. “I thought I was going to lose you…”

“Shiro…” Keith says, gripping Shiro’s shirt as he hugged him back.

“You’re all I have left, Keith!” Shiro cries as he tightens his hold. “You’re all I have left! This war has taken everything else from me! My mind, my body, my life, Adam… If I lost you…” Shiro can’t finish the sentence.  For several tics, neither of them speak as Shiro cries into Keith’s shoulder. Keith quietly holds him, whispering soft reassurances to him. Once Shiro calms down enough to speak, he adds, “If what I felt today is even a fraction of what I put you through… I am so sorry…”

Wordlessly, Keith pulls back enough place his hands on either side of Shiro’s face to brush away his tears with his thumbs. He pulls Shiro down until their foreheads meet. For a moment they remain that way, reveling in the close proximity to each other.

“I love you, Keith…” Shiro tells him softly a moment later.

“I love you too,” Keith tells him back.

Keith lays back against the pillows then as Shiro repositions himself to lay his head in Keith’s lap. Shiro wraps his arms around Keith’s waist and lays the rest of his body on the bed between Keith’s legs. Keith smiles down at Shiro and cards his fingers through Shiro’s hair. A few moments later, they both drift off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> As a writer, this scene pissed me off so much. Zethrid is literally holding Keith sans Paladin armor and jetpack on a cliff over a volcanic crater full of molten lava. They missed a perfect opportunity to parallel The Black Paladins episode.
> 
> So I did it for them.
> 
> I should point out now that most of these plothole fixes might contain elements used in other plothole fixes as kindof a Here’s-somewhere-else-you-could-have-tied-this-loose-end-and-not-change-the-season-too-much


End file.
